acquaints us with the cause of all this, The creature which God had made, in order to be at the head of his creation, where he placed him, and invefted him with the dominion of the whole; abufing the liberty with which he had been endowed, and breaking through the only restraint which had been laid upon it, required now to be treated in a different ཚ་ manner. The whole creation, animate and inanimate, was made fubfervient to him: He was to have the chief enjoy. ment of it; and every thing confpired to promote his happiness. But he was not to be abfolute lord and monarch of this empire, but was made amenable to him who was the Lord paramount of all. God, when he made the world, established laws for the government of it, natural and moral, natural laws for the government of the whole; and moral laws befides, for the government of moral agents, fuch as man; Or rather, the whole was but one law, which had a moral tendency,, with regard to moral agents. Thefe feveral laws, or anioupes parts

T

parts of this law, the great Lawgiver had connected together, fo as to form one whole, and to cooperate with each other to the fame ends, fo as to be productive of the general good; and there was no infringing of any part of them, but an infringement of the whole muft neceffarily enfue. They could not be infringed, but by man. The inanimate creation invariably purfued, or rather was made to purfue, the laws of nature impofed upon it: The brute creation confifted of neceffary agents, who had it not in their power to disobey the laws by which they were governed: Man was the only free agent, who could act according to the dictates and impulfe of his own will; and this freedom he was tempted to abufe by difobeying. This disobedience required to be animadverted upon : And thefe laws required to be altered for this end.

The creation, which had been modeled for his enjoyment, was now converted to ferve the purpose of difcipline: And man having grown wanton in his plenty; the

earth,

earth, which administered to it, was made to withhold that plenty from him; and not to yield her fruits, without hard labour to obtain them, in inferior kinds, and of worfe qualities, than he had before experienced And this was done, in order to mortify, and fubdue thofe irregular appetites and paffions, which he had too much indulged; to reduce him within the bounds of fobriety and moderation; and to keep him more ftrictly under the reftraints of that government, which he had dared to rebel against.:

Thus wherewithal man finned, by the fame alfo was he punished His own wickedness corrected him, and his backflidings reproved

bim.

This punishment was inflicted upon him, not in vengeance, but in mercy; for his amendment, and the reparation of the wrongs he had done; and perhaps for his recovery, and the restoration of nature like

Wisdom, ix. 16.

+ Jer. ii. 19.

wife to the fame happy ftate, from which he had been the cause of perverting it.

Thus the fame general plan was still carried on; the fame gracious purpose perfevered in; the good of the whole; as well in this feeming deviation from the original defign of it, as in the design itself; agreeably to what is obferved by an approved author, already cited, concern-ing God's government of the world, That diverfity is uniformity, and change con"ftancy *"

66

This is the best account I can give of the grounds and reasons of the great change introduced into the ftate of the earth at this time; as it will appear. to be, when we have confidered the whole of it.

This catastrophe is couched in terms of reat feverity

Curfed be the ground for thy fake.

To curfe, in general, is to devote unto evil: Whether applied to perfons, or things, it implies the worst events, that can befall them. In the ecclefiaftical

*Montefquicu, ib.

3

fenfe,

fenfe, it is expreffed by anathematizing; which is, to caft perfons out of the pale of the church, and deprive them of all the benefits of the christian community,

When applied to inanimate things, it is, in the utmost rigour, to devote to destruction; in leffer degrees, to defecration from holy uses, and to condemn fuch things to the vileft ufes of all others. Thus fays the apostle: The earth, which beareth thorns and briars is rejected; and is nigh unto curfing; whofe end is to be burned *: Alluding to the original fentence, Curfed be the ground for thy fake. Its being thus devoted to malediction implies a deprivation of its fertility, and of the bleffing of providence upon it, for that purpofe; and in effect a condemnation of it to aftate of fterility. This it could not fuffer for any fault of its own; but it was for the fault and offence of its occupier, who was the real fufferer in the end, Curfed fhall it be for thy fake

In forrow fhalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life